Section 37-4-62

Forced sales — Application to commission; notice and hearing; order.

If acquisition of the property sought to be acquired by the agency is not consummated under the provisions of Sections 37-4-60 and 37-4-61, the agency, before proceeding to engage in the proposed business, shall take such steps as may be provided in this division. If the agency and the owner fail within 60 days after written notice to the owner of the utility as provided in this division to consummate the proposed acquisition, either the agency or the owner may apply to the commission within 15 days after the expiration of such 60 days for a determination as to what property ought in the public interest to be included in the purchase and what price ought to be paid, having in view the cost of the property less a reasonable allowance for depreciation and obsolescence, and any other element which may enter into a determination of the fair value of the property to be purchased; but such price shall be determined without enhancement on account of future earning capacity or good will, or of exclusive privileges derived from rights in the public streets or roads. Thereupon, the commission, after notice to all interested parties, shall hold a hearing thereon and make the determination aforesaid. Such purchase shall include such portion of the property of the owner within the limits of the agency as is suitable for, and used in connection with, the generation or distribution of electricity within the agency or within the territory which the agency proposes to serve. The price shall include damages, if any, which the commission finds would be caused by the severance of the property proposed to be included in the purchase from other property of the owner. Such severance damages shall be separately found by the commission, and shall not exceed 15 percent of the amount, exclusive of such damages, fixed by the commission to be paid to the owner. If any such property is subject to any mortgages, liens or other encumbrances, the commission in making its determination shall provide for the deduction or withholding from the purchase price, pending discharge, of such sum or sums as it deems proper. The determination provided in this division shall be made by order, and such order shall be deemed a final order of the commission. The commission may impose in its order reasonable conditions relating to the terms and conditions of the proposed acquisition and shall state in its order the findings of fact and conclusions of law upon which its determination and the conditions attached thereto are based.

(Acts 1939, No. 244, p. 405; Code 1940, T. 48, §344.)